Best DJ in the World?

haha NO! HELL NO.

don't believe the industry media hype.

Apparently he's not. Here's the offical list.

http://www.thedjlist.com/djs/

huh? why would my opinion matter less? i think getting opinions from both djs and non-djs is pretty helpful.

i guarantee that if i we were to hand somebody blindfolded a mix cd from paul oakenfold and let's say a trance mix cd from me that i can quickly whip up (and i don't even really play trance), they'll definitely say my mix cd (or a bunch of other mix cds from less famous djs, and you'd think a computer mixed cd would be perfect) is better. actually, i've already done this test with numerous people, so i can confidently say this. my opinion of course. just saying that he's not just horribly over-hyped, but actually a horrible dj.

Hey, I'd go see him if he were in my city! Also good with the same first name: Paul van dyk

That's by no means an official list, more like a pointless popularity namecheck run by a magazine and a promotional company (and it allows you to vote multiple times).
Technically, Oakenfold is a rather poor DJ and his mixing nowadays is best described as a "trainwreck", but his selection and feel of the audience are spot on. He is definitely very popular and very influential and I think according to the Guiness Book Of Records he is also the highest paid DJ.

I think an "official" list would be the DMC Mixing Championship, that is based on merits of actual mixing, programming, scratching, beatmatching, etc. You won't find big name dj's on that list though, most of them are worthless without their laptops nowadays.

i agree with trampzilla.

the whole thing is a total business and a sham. people used to say djing is an art. nowadays, it's embarassing. and it's totally misleading because all those cds you buy are often not even mixed live or even by the dj on the cover...they give these tracks to a sound engineer and tell him/her to mix them on the computer and then slap their name on the cover for the $$$$ (funny thing is that my live mix cds usually sound better than computer mix cds because these sound engineers have a poor concept of eqing overlapped tracks, programming, pacing, phrasing, etc.). and then when they do play out, the audience doesn't realize that almost anyone will sound good on a loud soundsystem and they're also too drunk to realize this. oh well, i'm just the typical bitter dj who feels unrecognized. i'll be up there soon though and change the industry like james holden seems to be trying to haha.

don't forget the mixmag list too and the dozen others. haha, did you see bt on that list? when he first popped up in those lists years ago, he hardly ever had any dj experience, but yet people were voting him as best dj...guessing because they just like the songs he produced? haha you gotta love the politics.

no.

Its all a matter of opinon, but anyone who knows anything about electronic music will tell you that those lists are BS and he is definetly not the best in the world, nor is tiesto or pvd.

yep. but i don't even really think you need to be an expert on the music.

so basically, paul oakenfold is a human jukebox lol. i mean, how hard is it to just play tracks you know everyone will like without the need for mixing? people are too drunk to even pay attention to the mixing (which is why programming is super most important when playing out live) or even notice crappy mixing. this is why paul oakenfold is just as good as playing a WinAmp playlist (that's what they do downstairs at The Yardhouse in Downtown San Diego), but of course, that's not what they do because the name sells. that's also why djs are over-valued in a club setting with average people who are in the club more for social than musical reasons. stick paul oakenfold in a club full of serious music nerds, and he'd get tomatoes thrown at him.


yep. i think israel paid him half a million dollars for a glorified human jukebox lol.

people wonder how such horrible djs outrank actually good djs on these lists. simple, just go to a club and you'll see that the overwhelming majority of the people have no clue whatsoever what the hell is going on up there (or who the hell is playing for that matter lol). and yet, this same overwhelming majority is voting. i think people are also associating the good emotions they hear from a song too much to the dj. it's very common to hear people say how they love what the dj is doing right now to the song and i look over at the booth and he's just digging through his crates lmao. this happens to me too lol.

okay, back to the original topic - i honestly don't think oakenfold has any strengths. playing tracks that people like is not a skill! it's a GIVEN if you aren't mixing well...he just gets away with it because people in a club are not really listening.

there's a trap with seasoned djs to get too caught up in techinical mixing. good djing is the perfect synergy of technical mixing and programming. i'm going to make my plug now that i'm that synergy! haha

i've been to many parties where paul van dyk and armin van buuren have spun and they were all very very good.
the fact that they will be at monster massive....damn!

oakey used to be a lot better then he is now

haha, my bad, elizabeth shoe. you knew this topic would get me all riled up lol. i'm kinda high-strung right now with work and crap (e.g. the company may go on strike) as well. but if you were to ask for my suggestion, i would suggest that if you like trance, it wouldn't hurt to go if you just want to hear popular trance songs on a loud ass sound system. these days, it seems more like what you play than how you play something.

DJ Sammy

Here is a plug fo my favourite DJ

http://www.honestforum.com/showthread.php?t=47161

heehee! you are by far my most favorite poster now!

the tracklisting for disc 2 (which is the more upbeat, energetic disc of my album) actually has undergone a drastic facelift. can't wait to finish this bitch of an album!

umm..no

I prefered my ferry corsten, armin van buuren, above & beyond, pvd, aly & fila, and some dutch and british djs.

the club FUR gets crowded when a headliner comes to town. I remember when armin or ferry was there, u couldnt move. PVD was much worst on any club.

haha maybe i should start buying trance. i remember when i played at a lingerie party and they only wanted trance for an hour, *EVERYBODY* thought i was god and wanted my autograph. damn, all i did was mix to the breakdown and that was like the 2nd time ever in my entire djing career to play trance. never got that same e-tarded rabid reaction when i play other genres though. i don't understand it lol.

wha?????? why would you think that? dog gone it, kenics!

let me tell you something though - i definitely was NOT the best dj in the world that night lol!

Do not underestimate the importance of choon selection and accurate gauging of the audience reaction, that is after all the bread & butter of a good DJ. Recently I was invited to a housewarming party and my buddy asked me to "play some dance music". I brought my computer, he said "I want something that goes bompity-bompity-chaka-chaka-boom boom preferably with some gay vocals and foot-stomping sensibility" and I literally just lined up a few samey-feely identikit commercial tracks in winamp and put them on repeat play and for the rest of the evening I was bombarded by requests to come over at "spin at my birthday party, man" by probably a couple of dozen people. It's fairly easy, to be honest - you just need to tap into the feeling of the crowd and respect your audience, the technique is an added bonus.

In these days of Ableton and such a monkey can be a DJ guru (and quite a few big name DJ's do abuse that to a certain extent, the glut of mix cd's by everyone and their brother is just another testament to that, and yes - my next door neighbour makes better mix CD's nowadays with modern software than Sasha or Digweed). There are few DJ's that are respected across the board from techno to drum n bass and house fanatics, for instance James Zabiela or Phil K. Trance-by-numbers MOS-embraced brand name dj's like PVD, Tiesto and Corsten are to the club scene what Gap and Express are to the jeans scene.

P.S. oh yeah, regarding BT... he famously said during an interview "I am NOT a dj" and it shows. He is the butt of jokes when it comes to slagging off the pompous dj's. he knows he is bad and he still does it... oh well, that's the guy formerly known as the future of electronic music. Any DJ list that includes BT is a fraud IMO.